Vatican newspaper spotlights plight of West Bank’s Palestinian Christians
October 15, 2026
The Vatican newspaper drew attention to the plight of Palestinian Christians with a four-article series in its October 15 edition
In the introductory front-page article, “Quotidiana resilienza“ (Everyday resilience), L’Osservatore Romano reported that “Madees Khoury runs the family business in the only remaining entirely Christian village in the West Bank. Brother Hernan Santos, rector of Bethlehem University, continues working to ensure education for young people, who are often hindered by internal movement restrictions. Father Bashar Fawadleh, the parish priest of Taybeh, stands by the faithful every day, while also speaking out against the rise in settler violence. These are some of the stories of resilience encountered daily in the State of Palestine.”
The report continued:
Despite the hardships, “love and a sense of belonging to the land” help Palestinians stay and face challenges and violence, says Madees Khoury. Life is not easy, however: “Sometimes you get stuck at a temporary checkpoint, not knowing if you’ll manage to get through in ten minutes, four hours, or seven. It becomes impossible to get to work, school, the hospital, or home,” she adds.
These difficulties also complicate attending university classes in Bethlehem, as Brother Hernan Santos explains. Yet, at the Catholic university, they “continue to work for peace and dialogue.”
It is a hope nurtured with great difficulty by Palestinian farmers, who, during this olive harvest season, face daily attacks from settlers who often devastate their land and start fires. This escalation demands urgent action from the international community to prevent the livelihoods of thousands of families dependent on agriculture from being jeopardized.
The introductory article was followed by three more:
- Una donna cristiana di Taybeh racconta difficoltà e speranze della quotidianità in Cisgiordania (A Christian woman from Taybeh shares the challenges and hopes of daily life in the West Bank)
- A colloquio con il rettore dell’Università di Betlemme (In conversation with the rector of the University of Bethlehem)
- A rischio la raccolta delle olive e la sussistenza di intere famiglie (Olive harvest and the livelihoods of entire families at risk)
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